November 1, 2025 • 39 mins
Welcome back to the studio. This is My Day of Play, where you’re taken into the real events and actions of how it happens long before the process of editing or cleaning up. The original purpose of these episodes was to give my broadcasting students something to edit, to practice with and to call their own. Then I realized that you are just as important. Share the reality of how it really went. We begin things with journalist and author TJ English who in late 2024 pumped up the volume on drugs and violence in the book Kilo Willy Falcon and the cocaine empire that seduced America. Our second conversation takes us deep into the thinking process of Alex Segura who has tapped into a very secret world. His latest was Alter Ego. Then we’ll wrap things up with Michele Weaver and Nathan Owens who starred in last year’s favorite holiday film Tis The Season on OWN This is My Day of Play. Completely unedited in the way of meeting the wizard behind the curtain.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, I want to welcome you back to the studio.
(00:01):
This is My day of Play, where you're taking into
the real events and actions of how it goes down
before the process of editing and or cleaning up. Now,
the original purpose of these episodes was to give my
broadcasting students something to edit, to practice with, and to
call their own. And then I realized, whoa, You're just
as important as they are. Why won't I be keeping
this from you? We begin things with journalist and author TJ. English,
(00:26):
who in late twenty twenty four pumped up the volume
on drugs and violence in the book Kilo Willie Falcone
and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America. On the second conversation,
it takes us deep into the thinking process of Alex Sugura,
who has tapped into a very secret world his latest
(00:46):
alter ego. Then we're going to wrap things up with
Michelle Weaver and Nathan Owens, who starred in last year's
favorite holiday film, Tis the Season on own? This is
my day of Play, completely unedited in the way of
meeting the wizard behind the curtain. What's going on, mister Rockstar?
Oh are you old smooky? What's the word freezing our
(01:07):
tails off down here in the Carolinas. Man, we finally
ended that thousand day draft of snow. They got they
finally got some in the town last night. Oh wow, okay,
well we finally got some rain up here. But your
precients did a crier with the cold. Here's TJ's all yours.
Good morning, TJ. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm doing good. Wow. Your mention, your mention of snow
brings us to the subject of cocaine.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yes it does, Yes it does. Which I've always associated
with Denver, Colorado for some stinking reason. And that's all
I thought about hearing this whole entire book was how
did he get to Denver? How did he get to Denver?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
H Well, low Smoothshachos might have had something to do
with that.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
How do you write a book like this about things
that actually took place? And you're and do you look
over your shoulder wondering is somebody watching me? Is somebody
following me? Am? I giving too much information out here?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know, the task of during this information and getting
it down on the page is so overwhelming that you
tend to forget the dangers of it. I mean, I
like to think having done this often enough. Now this
is my tenth book all on subjects of crime organized crime?
(02:22):
Did I have a process in place to deal with
the potential dangers of it. I'm not unaware of it.
I am aware of it. But you have to complete
the task at hand, and so you become so involved
in that process that you put those fear, whatever fears
(02:45):
you might have, you put them on the back burner.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Do give us sit there and wonder why did it
take so long for cocaine to become a part of
our habit in this nation? Because I mean, why wasn't
it around during the forties or was it?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, that's an interesting question because of course, you know,
cocaine is a plant that predates human civilization. I been
around forever, and ancient indigenous cultures used it. They used
it in religious rituals, They used it for medicinal purposes.
It was sacred, It was a sacred product. It took
(03:22):
human beings to take it and process it, turned it
into the white powder, turned it into an illegal product
that went on to corrupt nations, and you know, created
a whole entire criminal underworld around the process of delivering
it to the people. But the answer, the quickest answer
(03:44):
your question is is it was too expensive. The process
of turning the plant into the white powder is a
very arduous and expensive process, and nobody had had thought
that there was a mass as market for it that
would make it worthwhile to do that on a large scale. So, yeah,
(04:07):
people have been using cocaine. I mean, I opened the
book with Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud studied cocaine in the
eighteen nineties and wrote a book about it called The
Cocaine Papers, and he loved it. He praised cocaine and
wrote about it, and he was kind of unaware of
(04:29):
the downside of cocaine. He just was taken by all
the positive aspects of it, you know, how it gives
you energy, and he particularly chronicled how it affected his
sex life. So people were aware of it, and the
elite were able to get their hands on it and
(04:50):
use it. Rich people, and by the nineteen sixties and
into the early seventies, people in Hollywood were able to
buy it, and people in the music business were able
to buy it and afford it. But the common person
really was beyond their means, and so the big success
(05:11):
of this group Losom with Chaco's. They were the first
ones to bring it in in bulk and lower the
price and make it affordable. And they basically created the market.
They not only created the market, they created the phenomenon
of cocaine.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Didn't that blow you away? I mean, that's that's good business.
I mean you're thinking like that. Somebody sat down at
that big conference table and said, I got this idea,
this is what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, the idea is it's worth mentioning? Was you know?
This whole thing was started by a bunch of Cuban
exiles whose families had been chased out of Cuban the
wake of the revolution in Cuba, and they came mostly
to South Florida, but also parts of New Jersey where
the where Cuban settled. And they Willie Falcone, who's the
(06:01):
main source of this book, but also his brother and
his partner, guy named Salmagluda. They were approached by leaders
of the anti Castro movement, which was very active subterranean
covert operations in the United States and in South America
and in Cuba. They were trying to assassinate Fidel Castro
(06:25):
and take back Cuba. And this was their mandate, and
Willie was sympathetic to the movement, even though at that
time he's just a eighteen nineteen year old kid. But
so some of the leaders of that movement saw Willi
Falcone's devotion to the movement, and they came to him
and a partner and they said, we have this plan
(06:47):
to bring cocaine into the United States and sell it
and use the money to finance the anti castro operations
in Central America. United States government, the CIA was very
concerned about the spread of Castroism, Marxism, communism, particularly in
Central America and particularly in Nicaragua where the Sandinistas had
(07:10):
taken power, and they formulated a group called the Contrasts
who were going to take down the Sandinistans. Yes, and
so they wanted to supply them with weapons and explosives,
and they were going to do that by selling cocaine
in the United States, using that money to buy guns
and explosives and smuggle them back into Central America. This
(07:33):
is the origins of the cocaine business in the United States.
People should know this, should be aware of this.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh my god, you just connected a lot of dots
for me, because I didn't understand the contract and the
santin Eastern War. I always thought it was just something
that was happening between, you know, just rival groups in
Middle America, and it's like, what the hell, Now it's
connected to drugs. You just answered a huge question for me.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I'm not the first person to write about it.
In the nineties, there was a journalist named Gary Webb
who wrote for the San Jose Mercury News who wrote
a Secret I wrote a series of articles under the
title Dark Alliance where he explored this connection between the
CIA and the Contras and how that brought cocaine into
(08:18):
the United States. And it was a big controversy at
the time, and a lot of the mainstream media, like
the New York Times and the Washington Post attacked Gary
Webb and said it's not credible journalism. Basically, they were
embarrassed that he had broke the story that they had ignored,
(08:39):
and they came down hard on Gary Webb to the
point where he eventually committed suicide. But Gary Webb was
the first person to make these connections. The last key
Loo follows up on that and we get specific. Willie
Falcon gives me names. There's a lot of detail in
there about how this all started that hasn't been revealed
(09:01):
anywhere else. So yes, it's very illuminating.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And of course I'm sitting here now going really okay.
So the Condra, the Contras in the sentineest is the
Iran Contra affair. It was about weapons blah bab so,
oh my god, dude.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Now, the only reason they stopped smuggling for the CIA
was the Iran contrast scandal became. It became not all
of a sudden, it was exposed that there was a
secret cabal within the US government that was illegally smuggling
weapons to the contrasts. This brought about the Iran Contrast scandal,
a series of hearings and all of that, but nobody
(09:39):
really got to the root of it, which was cocaine
cocaine money. So once it got exposed, Williams Health stopped
stopped smuggling for the Anti Castro movement. But by then
the horse was out of the barn, so to speak.
They had created the system and they just continue when
(10:00):
you're doing it, and now all the proceeds went directly
to them. And so this is where the big money
started to roll in. And this is where the phenomenon
of Los Machaco's begins to take shape, starting in South
Florida in Miami, but this was national. They created a
distribution system that brought the cocaine to Denver and to
(10:23):
Los Angeles and to San Francisco and Chicago and New
York everywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's so much of it reminds me of Scarface. But
I think you clearly point out though, that it was
not Scarface. It wasn't as violent. It could have been,
but it wasn't as violent.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah. One of my tasks in the telling of this
story was to basically go beyond the stereotypes and the
images that we have in our head that have been
created by popular culture, starting with Scarface. You know that
the cocaine business is bloodshed from top to bottom, and
(10:59):
you know, it was a little startling to me. In fact,
I'll be honest, I was even a little worried about
it initially because I thought, how do you tell a
cocaine story without UZI submachine guns and chainsaws and all
the carnage that we associate with it. And then I thought, well,
maybe that's that's the point of telling this story, is
that maybe our perceptions of the cocaine business are kind
(11:23):
of wrapped up in popular culture stereotypes, you know, not
that it's not an illegal enterprise, and not that it's
not ultimately probably a bad thing, and that it didn't
destroy a lot of lives and there was violence in
the cocaine business. My point is is that Lolos Machazo's
operated within this business without violence as part of their
(11:48):
business plan. And I think that was because they were
basically Cuban. They were all Cuban exiles. They all came
from the same community. They were not hardened gangsters with
criminal records, having done time in prison or any of
that stuff. At the time. They were young guys who
stumbled into this business and made the most of it.
(12:11):
And they were tight. They were like a family. Even
law enforcement people told me, you couldn't crack Lois Machao's
when they were in their heyday. You couldn't get them
to snitch. You couldn't get members of that organization to
turn against the organization and cooperate because they were tight.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Law enforcement they were inside their circle. I mean, it's
almost like they brought them in. Was it form of
tun or was it just that, Hey, I want to
be a part of this victory.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, initially it was corruption. They bought off the law enforcement.
They had a sheriff in central Florida who they owned,
who allowed them to build a landing strip and land
their product right into the middle of the state of Florida.
They hadudges, they had their banker in Panama eventually became
(13:06):
the president. This is a remarkable story. A guy named
Guillermo Andara was a high level banker in Panama City.
Panama City becomes the central banking center of what I
call the narcosphere, the drug business, the cocaine business in
the eighties, and their banker becomes president. After Manuel Noriega
(13:31):
is deposed by the United States and brought to the
United States and put on trial and put away in prison.
The United States handpicked his successor. His successor was Guillermo Andara,
Willie and sALS banker. So the complicit nature of this
business goes very high up into politics, into law enforcement,
(13:57):
into the judiciary. This is the long arm of the
cocaine business that even to this day, maybe even especially
to this day, is so deeply entrenched in processes of
government and business in North America and South America that
I think that it'll never be eradicated. And I've completely
(14:21):
I've completely changed my views on this since I started
this book. I think the only answer is legalization, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, yeah, but at a controlled level though, of course.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah. I just picture you sitting inside this room with
this family tree of all of these people connected, and
you're looking for the next connection. All right, who else
was part of this? Who else? And I just see this, this,
this whole entire wall full of nothing but pictures, and
you sitting there as that writer bringing this story to life.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah. Well, a lot of the details of the of
the criminal organization had been laid out at the racketeering trials.
There were many trials. When this all came crumbling down,
William Sower put on trial and they and they fixed
the jury. They had twelve members of the jury, they
had five jurors in their pocket, and they were found
(15:14):
not guilty, which was a stunny result for everyone. And
pretty early on the government figured out that they must
have gotten to the jury, and they were able to
find out how that transpired, and they they tried them again,
and they eventually were taken down in major and given
major sentences. So in the course of those legal proceedings,
(15:38):
a lot of this was was was laid out. What
was what was a more interesting task for the personal
relationships to get below and beyond you know, what was
known and find out. And this is where having Willie
Falcone as a source and Willi Falcone opened the door
for me to all the other sources. People would never
(16:00):
talked about any of this in their lives, probably not
even to their loved ones. I was able to interview
these people and get at at things like their motivations.
Why did you do it, how did you do it?
What was your thinking? How do you feel about it? Now?
These are all incredible, invaluable questions, And so in a sense,
(16:22):
I was able to humanize the story. You know, these
were not demons, These were not crazed killers. These were
human beings making perhaps what we would call bad choices.
But you know, to me and to most dramatists, everyone
(16:43):
knows that there's nothing better than human beings making bad
choices as a source of as a source of.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Drama, really just seems to be the type of person
because so many people of power don't carry the power
into a conversation. They're just everyday people who put their
pants on the same way we do. He just seems
to be that down to earth kind of guy. Was
it like pulling teeth or was it just a conversation?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Oh yeah, it was very much as you describe it.
I mean. Willi's success as a leader of men was
his his charisma and his sense of brotherhood with the
others in the group. He had great people skills and
(17:27):
was an impressive leader of men. His partner, Sal was
more of the strategist and the tactician. He handled the books,
He took care of the business side of things. Yeah,
they were. Willie was very appealing, you know, as a
person he was. I mean I interviewed many other people
(17:49):
and asked them about him, and nobody had a bad
word to say about Willy Falcon, not even the law
enforcement people. I mean they didn't. They thought he was
a criminal and they were devoted to taking him down,
and ultimately they did. But nobody could really say anything
bad about him. He was very well liked. It was
an interesting thing. It opened my mind up to, you know,
(18:15):
an alternative way to run a criminal organization.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It's so funny that we talk about it being an
organization and at the same time. In all things that
I've ever read about families and stuff like that, there's
chaos in there, but they're able to take that crazy
chaos and make it work.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, and there was chaos. I mean when I say
Los Musacho's didn't use violence, and violence was not a
part of their business plan. That's not to say that
the cocaine business was not violent. It was extremely violent.
I mean they were getting their cocaine from Pablo Escobar.
Pablo ear was waging a violent war against Colombian society.
(18:57):
There was violence going on all around them. But you know,
this was interesting. It was hard for me to bend
my mind around that. But will he kind of explained it.
He pointed out that they were bringing the product in
in large weight from Columbia, in kilos, and they were
selling it off to high level partners. They had very
(19:20):
few clients. They were not selling it at the street level,
and they were not selling nickel and dimebags. They were
selling large amounts of kilos to large scale dealers who
would then sell it to a dealer who would sell
it to a dealer who would sell it to a dealer.
But Williams now were at the high end of that process,
and there wasn't There wasn't violence at that level of
(19:43):
the business. The violence is mostly at street level, people
vuying for territory and control and you ripped me off,
and now I'm going to rip you off. And you know,
they were in a privileged position in terms of the
cocaine business. That was all beneath them in a way.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Wow, man TJ. You've got to come back to this
show anytime in the future. The door is always going
to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Thank you, sir. Happy to hear that.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Okay, okay, you too, take care.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Please do not move. Coming up next Alex Sekurra Alter Ego,
the name of his book in late twenty twenty four,
Alter Ego. Get ready for this one. We're checking in
with Alex Sagura. Hello on good morning everybody.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Hello, good morning, mister Collins.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Hey, what's going on now?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Much It's the operator and I'm calling with Alex Sigura,
the author of Alter Ego, for your interview.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
To day at ten thirty.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Looking forward to it. Had hear it, and you.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Know my question is going to be for you have
a schedule today.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I have it scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Oh you're the.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Best, all right, I'll get you connected.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Happy holidays, same to you. Have fun.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You will now be placed into the conference.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Lease go ahead, dude. I love this book. This a
long time coming because you know what, it taps into
so many imaginations and it just really just brings things forward,
is what it does.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean really, it's a
passion project, all my favorite things in one book. It's
kind of a rare opportunity to get to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
So then how do you not feel like the Eagles
or Fleetwood Mac with the Eagles, with Hotel California and rumors?
Because when you get to do that and you get
to bring everything into a book at once, what's your
next one going to be?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Like?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I mean, creatively, I feel like you just follow your
obsessions and your passions and whatever. I'm really kind of
thinking over or mulling over. Thinking about a lot is
kind of a sign as to what I'm going to
write next. So I'll always love comics and that I'll
always be in comics in some way. But you know,
onward to the next mystery too.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah. Taking on the Lethal Linux, Annie has Oh there's
something's got something's got to happen here, and because it's
something that's going to break free. And to me, that's
where you get the attention of that of that reader,
because all of a sudden, it's like, oh, here we go,
let's do it.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's all at its heart, look
at you know, it is a commentary on IP and
character and media and all this stuff. But at its
heart alter Ego is a page turning thriller. And that
that's something I had to be mindful of throughout, Like
you want it to feel entertaining and an adventure, and
then maybe you give some vegetables with your dessert. That's
you deliver the story.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, the cover itself sets the tone. You know, they
tell you don't judge a book by its cover. The
hell I'm going to do it, because then that's what
draws me to that first page. Chris, when you've got
something this bright, this colorful, this energetic, I want to
know what this book is about, and then you get
it right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Yeah, no, they did a fantastic job. It's a beautiful cover.
I was you know. Secret Identity has also has a
really iconic cover. So I was wondering how they were
going to follow up, and it feels very much like
the Partner to Secret Identity visually, and that is very
arresting and pulls you in right away.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Well, let's let's talk about Secret Identity and Alter Ego.
Are they connected in any way or is this going
to be some a series that we're going to be
tapping into for a long time.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
It's not a series. Well, we're calling Alter Ego a
standalone sequel, which is a fancy way of saying you
can read it on its own, but if you read
it after or with Secret Identity, you'll get a fuller
picture because a lot of the stuff that Alter Ego
alludes to happens in Secret Identity. But both books are independent,
different protagonists different eras Secret Identities in the seventies, Alter
Egos in the present day, and the protagonists their stories
(23:27):
are very different, but they both shared one theme, which
is both were presented with their dream, you know, their
dream opportunity. For any protagonist of Alter Ego, it was
a chance to revance the legendary links, and for Carmen
in Secret Identity, it was a chance to create the links.
But both of those dreams are are presented with really
a lot of streams attacks that they don't see right away.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Don't you love the idea of using your words to
put that that action inside our imaginations instead of looking
at you, you know, the typical, you know, graphic novel
that your your words give us so much which more
to hold on to.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
It's really an interesting mix because you know, there's comic
pages in the novel and you get to see that
medium roll out, But novels give you this opportunity to
be internal and cerebral and really kind of get a
peek into what's going on with these characters. And alter
ego is first person, so we're intimately in Annie's mind
throughout the story, whereas Carmon and Secret identity for a
(24:23):
little third person limited and you know, we see what
Harmon zoom, but we're not so deeply into her every thought.
But it's it's a fun way to mix the two mediums,
comics and pros.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think of this book, and my wife and I
have talked about this so much since receiving the book,
is the fact that it serves as a ticket to
ride for those that love comic books. Because my grandson
graduated from school because that's how we learned how to
read comic books. And I think that a book like
this is going to take those comic book fans and
you're going you're introducing a platform to them that maybe
they didn't know was even the available to them.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Yeah, you know, it's I mean, I think what is
really gratifying about these Sue books is that I get
people from both sides who are not familiar with comics,
you're not familiar with mystery novels, and they say these
are the books that really turn them on to these mediums.
And that's that's gratifying, because a they're entertained and entertained
enough to do something that maybe they're not comfortable with
in terms of the new new medium. But also people
(25:18):
want to believe that these characters exist. I had a
lot of people reach out to me after Secret Identity saying,
you know, I read this book and I read all
this stuff you wrote about it, and then I went
with the comic shop and I couldn't find the link comics.
So and it's not like we're trying to trick people,
Like I think it's very clearly fiction. But I love
that people want to believe that the links is real.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Wow. I love how you are tapped into what's really
going on in the world because my son in law
has Cuban heritage, and I love the way that you
brought that into the picture. That it's not a hidden
secret that anybody can read this book, and I just
really want people to understand how real you are with
this story and it's not the typical black and white story.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah, I appreciate it. I mean, I think one of
the key moments for me as a reader was finding
the stories that I identified with, whether they were Cuban
or Latino or characters that weren't routinely protagonists in a
lot of the media that was coming out at that time.
So it's really important to me to show readers diverse characters,
diverse storylines, and give them a sense of the wider world.
(26:20):
It's not just one way, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, when you revive a character, how how do you
go through the emotions or that reinventing type of personality
to make sure that you get it right on that
page you meet.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
The character that already exists, like a.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yes, exactly exactly, because we all have our interpretations.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah, I think The thing I try to do if
I'm writing a character for another company, a character that's
been around a long time, like I write to Tracy,
I'm written in the Spider Verse and things like that,
is to get to the core of the character, get
to the core part that is identifiable, that makes the
character unique and different, and ride that into a story
that interests you to write and create. And that's usually
(27:01):
a recipe for success.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So do you do you take this to a comic con?
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I do. I'm usually in near comic con. I do
a lot of the other comic cons around the country,
like San Diego, and I've had tables at cons and
really gotten to engage with a lot of readers about
these books, which has been a thrill.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Did you send one to Kevin Smith by any chance?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
I did not. I should? You should like it?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
You you think? I think he would probably sit there
and go, how can I make this a movie? I
need to do something with this? Yeah, because it's so
unique in its own right, I mean really, it is
such a When you said standalone, yes it.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Is, yeah, yeah, yeah, No your list to God's Ears
that would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Wow. So then where do you grow from here? Because
I mean, because you're you're tapping into that new audience,
especially those Gen zs as well as the Alpha generation
who's finally picking up books. The thing is is that,
I mean, you've got your audience building right now.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
M Yeah. I think after this, I'm writing a novel
featuring Garrett Devil, the Marvel Superhero CROs Crime novel, which
is coming out next year, and then I'm working on
in the early stages of my next crime novel, but
also doing a lot of comic book work for Marvel
and DC and places like Matt Dave and just keeping busy.
I think. I think sometimes industries want to say this
(28:14):
is what you are and to find you, and I
think the key to success is to stay flexible and
pivot when you can and keep people in there.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Toes Alex, you're that guy. You're that guy that we
all wish we could be, and you're taking the steps
to make it possible.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Wow. So where can people go to find out about
everything that you're doing? Because You've got something happened before
we got to this moment today, and that's what I
want people to do. I want them to embrace you.
Like a great rock band.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Oh thank you, Yeah, I appreciate it. I have a
little website, Alexiagura dot com that's pretty up to date.
I also send out a substack newsletter every couple weeks
with updates on what's coming out and where I'll be,
and you can find that at Alex Sigarette dot substack
dot com.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Ex So, please come back to the show anytime in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you, dude.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I certainly will. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Well, you'd be brilliant today, Okay, you too. Coming up next,
we're gonna go all out holiday with Michelle Weaver and
Nathan Owens. The name of the holiday movie tis the Season.
Let's check in with Michelle Weaver and Nathan Owens. Hello, Erra, hello,
hello he Good morning to you guys. How are you
doing today? How are you well? I'm very excited to
(29:23):
share a conversation with you because I've experienced the movie.
I don't want to spoil the movie because I want
people to feel the same way that I did in
watching A Season to Remember, Because there is romance, there
is courage, there's a sense of reality in the way
that so many people have lived what you did as
that reporter or as that journalist because we don't see
what's behind the scenes until we get behind the scenes.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
Yes, yes, very true.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
But I love everything that you're saying.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
What's great about the movie is that, yes, it's for
the holiday, and it's part of the sixth Annuel Own
for the Holidays, But the thing is is that it
doesn't really come across as you're force feeding me the holidays.
This is a great, great movie.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Oh, thank you. I like that. I like that it
doesn't come across like that. It's yeah, I love that.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
In the script it was like that, and I enjoyed
that as well, and I'm glad to hear that that's
how it came off as well in the final production.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I love the way how the director really set this
movie up in the very beginning, because I mean, you're
at the game and things begin to happen. Now you've
got to get the story, and it really does put
us as viewers in a place of where you are
in your character.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
Yes, I agree, and I love that comment. Thank you
for saying that.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And of course, Nathan Iggy, love does exist in the
real world. There are people just like Iggy, and I
swear to got to do all the Iggy's. Yes, there are.
How did you jump into this role? How did you
make it so real?
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I honestly what spoke to me about Iggy is his
free spirit of nature. He's a man who likes to
He's jumping around trying to find him himself and a
home for himself. I think that's his internal journey, I think,
and yeah, just diving into that and then exploring the
(31:11):
whole vulnerability aspect of it as well too, and allowing
himself to be vulnerable in love and also too pushing
himself and professionally with the help.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
Of his counterpart here.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I don't want to give everything away, but yeah, I
think that that's some of the things that really stuck
out to me that I enjoyed playing well see.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
And that's where readers and listeners and viewers need to
understand that relationship between that journalist and that camera person.
I would not have done what I did in television
if it wasn't for my photographer. He's the one would
say he would sit down and listen to me, and
he'd say, Okay, I've got an idea I'm going to
add to it, there is a relationship there. Does that
change your view of sports journalists?
Speaker 5 (31:54):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Yeah, to certain agree. I mean when I did do the.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
Research, and I had always know because I actually majored
in television production, so I experienced just a little bit
of it.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
And that's why I.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Liked that they showed this that there is like a
storytelling dynamic between both the camera person and the person
in front of the camera, Like there's a team element
that I love that we show. But yes, doing this
film it made me think about it even more because
it's brought to my attention about there's so much that
goes on behind the camera. There's so much that hours
(32:28):
people are putting in day in and day out to
get that one thirty second little snippet, you know, and
to be able to really understand and cherish that is
a beautiful thing I think.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
And yeah, no, I'm sorry, now please you.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
I actually had a little bit of a hosting background.
I hosted for a show years ago, and it.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Was kind of like I could see that, like I
got to experience that team aspect of it as well too,
So letting that shine in this film was nice to watch.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah, because once you get that story, next step out
in the truck and edit that thing and sit it
back to the station. Also, not to.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Give away a lot, but even you see like when
their relationship is like weird, she's like, I don't want
to work with anybody else. You find that dynamic with
a fellow, yeah, work person that you work with partner,
and you know for your job, it's like really hard
to switch that up because you have a flow together.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
There are so many different levels of this story, and
I think one that's going to blow people away, and
I think it's going to pull them in is the
relationship with you and your father. And I think it's
really going to pull people in in a way of saying,
oh my god, I'm not the only one.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Yeah, I love hearing you say that. Yes, I agree.
That really touched me even just reading in the script.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
You how do you deal with that when it's words
on a page, because that's you know, as a jock,
I can sit here and I can put words on
a page, but ultimately it's up to the pitch, volume
and tone to take over. How do you bring it forward?
Speaker 6 (33:57):
That's such a good question.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I feel like that's so.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
You can't do it by yourself, right, That's why I
love doing film and TV and everything, and even like
as people in TV, you can't do it by yourself.
There's so many elements that go into it, whether it's wardrobe,
your fellow actor, the director, the makeup artist, the set designer.
And so I think really, for me, it's not thinking
(34:23):
it's all on me. I'm going to come be as
authentic and do my work of like, Okay, what's the
real things that's going on in this person's heart, mind
and body and their history and bring it and then
we actually get to play with everybody. We're collaborating together
and bouncing ideas off of each other. There's so many
ideas that happen when you're on set that you didn't expect,
(34:45):
and that's the magic. That's what's so beautiful, because that's life.
You can only prepare so much. You come ready to
be knocked over sometimes and punch back.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
There's a scene in the movie where I smiled, and
it just could have been just me just being crazy me,
but the mustard seeds. I smiled because the Christianity came
out in me like you would not believe. When I
saw the mustard seeds.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, same.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
I Actually I love that verse as well. And a
friend had given me a mustard seed when I just
graduated college and put it on a piece of tape
and say, remember how small this mustard seed is. And
I do love that symbol in the film as well.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Do you find anything do you find yourself doing movies together?
Because I mean, I mean, you guys have such chemistry
on that on that screen. I mean it's like it's
like when I seed the two of you together there,
it's like, oh my god, there's there's great balance here.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
That's wonderful. That's great. I mean it's all you know,
it's hard work with this girl.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
I mean he's secretly crazy.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
No, no, this is our first project together.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
But like I like I've said before, actually it was
just it's it's really easy when you're you're.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Friends with somebody.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
I mean, like we just hit it off from sense
of humor, the sense of humor aspect of it, and
then also too, we both are very big on this.
She actually spoke about it just a second ago about
the team aspect that comes with that comes with acting.
And I have a background and playing multiple team sports
and that's kind of what I look for whenever I do,
(36:20):
you know, any kind of acting project, because we all
it's all together.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
We're all having this together, whether it's a director prorection,
we're all doing this together.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And so I think that like when you have a
generous actor who's willing to.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
You know, help you out when you need help.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Here, you can lean on for the you know, ideas
or what you know, run through scenes together if you
don't feel comfortable, whatever it is.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
We both were there for each other and in.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
That aspect, and I think that, yeah, that adds to
the the chemistry that obviously apparently translates.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
But honestly, like I don't know, they just cast, we
didn't meet, we didn't audition together, and whoever casts.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I guess did a good job.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
It is new and we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Oh my god, because that first scene where you guys
meet each other, not to spoil it when you meet,
I mean I felt it. I'm going, oh yeah, it's there.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Have you ever booked into somebody in your life when
it comes to that, because I mean, love at first
sight is an actual thing. Sometimes we just ignore it.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Fair enough, Yeah, Yeah, I do think it is a
real thing, the connection, Like internally, you just feel connected.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
One drawn to somebody for sure, for sure, for sure.
Yeah I'll leave it there, but yeah, let's.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Have to I've always connected it to like we've lived
this life before and it just took this long for
us to get back together again. And that's I think
that's the storyline that you, guys shares that you know
each other, but you just can't pinpoint how you know
each other until you start that conversation.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Yeah, one d per true. Hey, ero, have you considered
doing some screenwriting of your own? I feel like you've got.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Got some skill. Man, I got seven books that'll you know.
I would love to have a movie of my own area.
But yeah, it's because I mean, I just want to
point out things to viewers as well as listeners that
there's more than just the lines. It's it's everything behind
the scenes. It's it's the connection between the eyes and
the facial expressions. There's so much going on in a movie,
(38:20):
Yes there is, So what's next after this one? Guys?
Because I mean it's a holiday picture, it's gonna But
the thing is, though, is that it's like Christmas music
it should be all year long. Oh yeah, everyone's while.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
It's good to have a holiday movie even in like
March of July, right like just to like.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Well yeah, I mean this is on the backdrop of
a holiday, but the story there can be viewed throughout
the rest of the year at anytime, anytime.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
Absolutely wow.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Well please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 6 (38:57):
Thank you, thank you, er it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Truly be alliant today.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
Okay, you too, I'm gonna be brilliant just for you.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Erm
Hey, I want to welcome you back to the studio.
(00:01):
This is My day of Play, where you're taking into
the real events and actions of how it goes down
before the process of editing and or cleaning up. Now,
the original purpose of these episodes was to give my
broadcasting students something to edit, to practice with, and to
call their own. And then I realized, whoa, You're just
as important as they are. Why won't I be keeping
this from you? We begin things with journalist and author TJ. English,
(00:26):
who in late twenty twenty four pumped up the volume
on drugs and violence in the book Kilo Willie Falcone
and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America. On the second conversation,
it takes us deep into the thinking process of Alex Sugura,
who has tapped into a very secret world his latest
(00:46):
alter ego. Then we're going to wrap things up with
Michelle Weaver and Nathan Owens, who starred in last year's
favorite holiday film, Tis the Season on own? This is
my day of Play, completely unedited in the way of
meeting the wizard behind the curtain. What's going on, mister Rockstar?
Oh are you old smooky? What's the word freezing our
(01:07):
tails off down here in the Carolinas. Man, we finally
ended that thousand day draft of snow. They got they
finally got some in the town last night. Oh wow, okay,
well we finally got some rain up here. But your
precients did a crier with the cold. Here's TJ's all yours.
Good morning, TJ. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm doing good. Wow. Your mention, your mention of snow
brings us to the subject of cocaine.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yes it does, Yes it does. Which I've always associated
with Denver, Colorado for some stinking reason. And that's all
I thought about hearing this whole entire book was how
did he get to Denver? How did he get to Denver?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
H Well, low Smoothshachos might have had something to do
with that.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
How do you write a book like this about things
that actually took place? And you're and do you look
over your shoulder wondering is somebody watching me? Is somebody
following me? Am? I giving too much information out here?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know, the task of during this information and getting
it down on the page is so overwhelming that you
tend to forget the dangers of it. I mean, I
like to think having done this often enough. Now this
is my tenth book all on subjects of crime organized crime?
(02:22):
Did I have a process in place to deal with
the potential dangers of it. I'm not unaware of it.
I am aware of it. But you have to complete
the task at hand, and so you become so involved
in that process that you put those fear, whatever fears
(02:45):
you might have, you put them on the back burner.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Do give us sit there and wonder why did it
take so long for cocaine to become a part of
our habit in this nation? Because I mean, why wasn't
it around during the forties or was it?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, that's an interesting question because of course, you know,
cocaine is a plant that predates human civilization. I been
around forever, and ancient indigenous cultures used it. They used
it in religious rituals, They used it for medicinal purposes.
It was sacred, It was a sacred product. It took
(03:22):
human beings to take it and process it, turned it
into the white powder, turned it into an illegal product
that went on to corrupt nations, and you know, created
a whole entire criminal underworld around the process of delivering
it to the people. But the answer, the quickest answer
(03:44):
your question is is it was too expensive. The process
of turning the plant into the white powder is a
very arduous and expensive process, and nobody had had thought
that there was a mass as market for it that
would make it worthwhile to do that on a large scale. So, yeah,
(04:07):
people have been using cocaine. I mean, I opened the
book with Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud studied cocaine in the
eighteen nineties and wrote a book about it called The
Cocaine Papers, and he loved it. He praised cocaine and
wrote about it, and he was kind of unaware of
(04:29):
the downside of cocaine. He just was taken by all
the positive aspects of it, you know, how it gives
you energy, and he particularly chronicled how it affected his
sex life. So people were aware of it, and the
elite were able to get their hands on it and
(04:50):
use it. Rich people, and by the nineteen sixties and
into the early seventies, people in Hollywood were able to
buy it, and people in the music business were able
to buy it and afford it. But the common person
really was beyond their means, and so the big success
(05:11):
of this group Losom with Chaco's. They were the first
ones to bring it in in bulk and lower the
price and make it affordable. And they basically created the market.
They not only created the market, they created the phenomenon
of cocaine.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Didn't that blow you away? I mean, that's that's good business.
I mean you're thinking like that. Somebody sat down at
that big conference table and said, I got this idea,
this is what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, the idea is it's worth mentioning? Was you know?
This whole thing was started by a bunch of Cuban
exiles whose families had been chased out of Cuban the
wake of the revolution in Cuba, and they came mostly
to South Florida, but also parts of New Jersey where
the where Cuban settled. And they Willie Falcone, who's the
(06:01):
main source of this book, but also his brother and
his partner, guy named Salmagluda. They were approached by leaders
of the anti Castro movement, which was very active subterranean
covert operations in the United States and in South America
and in Cuba. They were trying to assassinate Fidel Castro
(06:25):
and take back Cuba. And this was their mandate, and
Willie was sympathetic to the movement, even though at that
time he's just a eighteen nineteen year old kid. But
so some of the leaders of that movement saw Willi
Falcone's devotion to the movement, and they came to him
and a partner and they said, we have this plan
(06:47):
to bring cocaine into the United States and sell it
and use the money to finance the anti castro operations
in Central America. United States government, the CIA was very
concerned about the spread of Castroism, Marxism, communism, particularly in
Central America and particularly in Nicaragua where the Sandinistas had
(07:10):
taken power, and they formulated a group called the Contrasts
who were going to take down the Sandinistans. Yes, and
so they wanted to supply them with weapons and explosives,
and they were going to do that by selling cocaine
in the United States, using that money to buy guns
and explosives and smuggle them back into Central America. This
(07:33):
is the origins of the cocaine business in the United States.
People should know this, should be aware of this.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh my god, you just connected a lot of dots
for me, because I didn't understand the contract and the
santin Eastern War. I always thought it was just something
that was happening between, you know, just rival groups in
Middle America, and it's like, what the hell, Now it's
connected to drugs. You just answered a huge question for me.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I'm not the first person to write about it.
In the nineties, there was a journalist named Gary Webb
who wrote for the San Jose Mercury News who wrote
a Secret I wrote a series of articles under the
title Dark Alliance where he explored this connection between the
CIA and the Contras and how that brought cocaine into
(08:18):
the United States. And it was a big controversy at
the time, and a lot of the mainstream media, like
the New York Times and the Washington Post attacked Gary
Webb and said it's not credible journalism. Basically, they were
embarrassed that he had broke the story that they had ignored,
(08:39):
and they came down hard on Gary Webb to the
point where he eventually committed suicide. But Gary Webb was
the first person to make these connections. The last key
Loo follows up on that and we get specific. Willie
Falcon gives me names. There's a lot of detail in
there about how this all started that hasn't been revealed
(09:01):
anywhere else. So yes, it's very illuminating.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And of course I'm sitting here now going really okay.
So the Condra, the Contras in the sentineest is the
Iran Contra affair. It was about weapons blah bab so,
oh my god, dude.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Now, the only reason they stopped smuggling for the CIA
was the Iran contrast scandal became. It became not all
of a sudden, it was exposed that there was a
secret cabal within the US government that was illegally smuggling
weapons to the contrasts. This brought about the Iran Contrast scandal,
a series of hearings and all of that, but nobody
(09:39):
really got to the root of it, which was cocaine
cocaine money. So once it got exposed, Williams Health stopped
stopped smuggling for the Anti Castro movement. But by then
the horse was out of the barn, so to speak.
They had created the system and they just continue when
(10:00):
you're doing it, and now all the proceeds went directly
to them. And so this is where the big money
started to roll in. And this is where the phenomenon
of Los Machaco's begins to take shape, starting in South
Florida in Miami, but this was national. They created a
distribution system that brought the cocaine to Denver and to
(10:23):
Los Angeles and to San Francisco and Chicago and New
York everywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's so much of it reminds me of Scarface. But
I think you clearly point out though, that it was
not Scarface. It wasn't as violent. It could have been,
but it wasn't as violent.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah. One of my tasks in the telling of this
story was to basically go beyond the stereotypes and the
images that we have in our head that have been
created by popular culture, starting with Scarface. You know that
the cocaine business is bloodshed from top to bottom, and
(10:59):
you know, it was a little startling to me. In fact,
I'll be honest, I was even a little worried about
it initially because I thought, how do you tell a
cocaine story without UZI submachine guns and chainsaws and all
the carnage that we associate with it. And then I thought, well,
maybe that's that's the point of telling this story, is
that maybe our perceptions of the cocaine business are kind
(11:23):
of wrapped up in popular culture stereotypes, you know, not
that it's not an illegal enterprise, and not that it's
not ultimately probably a bad thing, and that it didn't
destroy a lot of lives and there was violence in
the cocaine business. My point is is that Lolos Machazo's
operated within this business without violence as part of their
(11:48):
business plan. And I think that was because they were
basically Cuban. They were all Cuban exiles. They all came
from the same community. They were not hardened gangsters with
criminal records, having done time in prison or any of
that stuff. At the time. They were young guys who
stumbled into this business and made the most of it.
(12:11):
And they were tight. They were like a family. Even
law enforcement people told me, you couldn't crack Lois Machao's
when they were in their heyday. You couldn't get them
to snitch. You couldn't get members of that organization to
turn against the organization and cooperate because they were tight.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Law enforcement they were inside their circle. I mean, it's
almost like they brought them in. Was it form of
tun or was it just that, Hey, I want to
be a part of this victory.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, initially it was corruption. They bought off the law enforcement.
They had a sheriff in central Florida who they owned,
who allowed them to build a landing strip and land
their product right into the middle of the state of Florida.
They hadudges, they had their banker in Panama eventually became
(13:06):
the president. This is a remarkable story. A guy named
Guillermo Andara was a high level banker in Panama City.
Panama City becomes the central banking center of what I
call the narcosphere, the drug business, the cocaine business in
the eighties, and their banker becomes president. After Manuel Noriega
(13:31):
is deposed by the United States and brought to the
United States and put on trial and put away in prison.
The United States handpicked his successor. His successor was Guillermo Andara,
Willie and sALS banker. So the complicit nature of this
business goes very high up into politics, into law enforcement,
(13:57):
into the judiciary. This is the long arm of the
cocaine business that even to this day, maybe even especially
to this day, is so deeply entrenched in processes of
government and business in North America and South America that
I think that it'll never be eradicated. And I've completely
(14:21):
I've completely changed my views on this since I started
this book. I think the only answer is legalization, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, yeah, but at a controlled level though, of course.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah. I just picture you sitting inside this room with
this family tree of all of these people connected, and
you're looking for the next connection. All right, who else
was part of this? Who else? And I just see this, this,
this whole entire wall full of nothing but pictures, and
you sitting there as that writer bringing this story to life.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah. Well, a lot of the details of the of
the criminal organization had been laid out at the racketeering trials.
There were many trials. When this all came crumbling down,
William Sower put on trial and they and they fixed
the jury. They had twelve members of the jury, they
had five jurors in their pocket, and they were found
(15:14):
not guilty, which was a stunny result for everyone. And
pretty early on the government figured out that they must
have gotten to the jury, and they were able to
find out how that transpired, and they they tried them again,
and they eventually were taken down in major and given
major sentences. So in the course of those legal proceedings,
(15:38):
a lot of this was was was laid out. What
was what was a more interesting task for the personal
relationships to get below and beyond you know, what was
known and find out. And this is where having Willie
Falcone as a source and Willi Falcone opened the door
for me to all the other sources. People would never
(16:00):
talked about any of this in their lives, probably not
even to their loved ones. I was able to interview
these people and get at at things like their motivations.
Why did you do it, how did you do it?
What was your thinking? How do you feel about it? Now?
These are all incredible, invaluable questions, And so in a sense,
(16:22):
I was able to humanize the story. You know, these
were not demons, These were not crazed killers. These were
human beings making perhaps what we would call bad choices.
But you know, to me and to most dramatists, everyone
(16:43):
knows that there's nothing better than human beings making bad
choices as a source of as a source of.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Drama, really just seems to be the type of person
because so many people of power don't carry the power
into a conversation. They're just everyday people who put their
pants on the same way we do. He just seems
to be that down to earth kind of guy. Was
it like pulling teeth or was it just a conversation?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Oh yeah, it was very much as you describe it.
I mean. Willi's success as a leader of men was
his his charisma and his sense of brotherhood with the
others in the group. He had great people skills and
(17:27):
was an impressive leader of men. His partner, Sal was
more of the strategist and the tactician. He handled the books,
He took care of the business side of things. Yeah,
they were. Willie was very appealing, you know, as a
person he was. I mean I interviewed many other people
(17:49):
and asked them about him, and nobody had a bad
word to say about Willy Falcon, not even the law
enforcement people. I mean they didn't. They thought he was
a criminal and they were devoted to taking him down,
and ultimately they did. But nobody could really say anything
bad about him. He was very well liked. It was
an interesting thing. It opened my mind up to, you know,
(18:15):
an alternative way to run a criminal organization.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It's so funny that we talk about it being an
organization and at the same time. In all things that
I've ever read about families and stuff like that, there's
chaos in there, but they're able to take that crazy
chaos and make it work.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, and there was chaos. I mean when I say
Los Musacho's didn't use violence, and violence was not a
part of their business plan. That's not to say that
the cocaine business was not violent. It was extremely violent.
I mean they were getting their cocaine from Pablo Escobar.
Pablo ear was waging a violent war against Colombian society.
(18:57):
There was violence going on all around them. But you know,
this was interesting. It was hard for me to bend
my mind around that. But will he kind of explained it.
He pointed out that they were bringing the product in
in large weight from Columbia, in kilos, and they were
selling it off to high level partners. They had very
(19:20):
few clients. They were not selling it at the street level,
and they were not selling nickel and dimebags. They were
selling large amounts of kilos to large scale dealers who
would then sell it to a dealer who would sell
it to a dealer who would sell it to a dealer.
But Williams now were at the high end of that process,
and there wasn't There wasn't violence at that level of
(19:43):
the business. The violence is mostly at street level, people
vuying for territory and control and you ripped me off,
and now I'm going to rip you off. And you know,
they were in a privileged position in terms of the
cocaine business. That was all beneath them in a way.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Wow, man TJ. You've got to come back to this
show anytime in the future. The door is always going
to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Thank you, sir. Happy to hear that.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Okay, okay, you too, take care.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Please do not move. Coming up next Alex Sekurra Alter Ego,
the name of his book in late twenty twenty four,
Alter Ego. Get ready for this one. We're checking in
with Alex Sagura. Hello on good morning everybody.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Hello, good morning, mister Collins.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Hey, what's going on now?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Much It's the operator and I'm calling with Alex Sigura,
the author of Alter Ego, for your interview.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
To day at ten thirty.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Looking forward to it. Had hear it, and you.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Know my question is going to be for you have
a schedule today.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I have it scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Oh you're the.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Best, all right, I'll get you connected.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Happy holidays, same to you. Have fun.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You will now be placed into the conference.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Lease go ahead, dude. I love this book. This a
long time coming because you know what, it taps into
so many imaginations and it just really just brings things forward,
is what it does.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean really, it's a
passion project, all my favorite things in one book. It's
kind of a rare opportunity to get to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
So then how do you not feel like the Eagles
or Fleetwood Mac with the Eagles, with Hotel California and rumors?
Because when you get to do that and you get
to bring everything into a book at once, what's your
next one going to be?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Like?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I mean, creatively, I feel like you just follow your
obsessions and your passions and whatever. I'm really kind of
thinking over or mulling over. Thinking about a lot is
kind of a sign as to what I'm going to
write next. So I'll always love comics and that I'll
always be in comics in some way. But you know,
onward to the next mystery too.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah. Taking on the Lethal Linux, Annie has Oh there's
something's got something's got to happen here, and because it's
something that's going to break free. And to me, that's
where you get the attention of that of that reader,
because all of a sudden, it's like, oh, here we go,
let's do it.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's all at its heart, look
at you know, it is a commentary on IP and
character and media and all this stuff. But at its
heart alter Ego is a page turning thriller. And that
that's something I had to be mindful of throughout, Like
you want it to feel entertaining and an adventure, and
then maybe you give some vegetables with your dessert. That's
you deliver the story.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, the cover itself sets the tone. You know, they
tell you don't judge a book by its cover. The
hell I'm going to do it, because then that's what
draws me to that first page. Chris, when you've got
something this bright, this colorful, this energetic, I want to
know what this book is about, and then you get
it right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Yeah, no, they did a fantastic job. It's a beautiful cover.
I was you know. Secret Identity has also has a
really iconic cover. So I was wondering how they were
going to follow up, and it feels very much like
the Partner to Secret Identity visually, and that is very
arresting and pulls you in right away.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Well, let's let's talk about Secret Identity and Alter Ego.
Are they connected in any way or is this going
to be some a series that we're going to be
tapping into for a long time.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
It's not a series. Well, we're calling Alter Ego a
standalone sequel, which is a fancy way of saying you
can read it on its own, but if you read
it after or with Secret Identity, you'll get a fuller
picture because a lot of the stuff that Alter Ego
alludes to happens in Secret Identity. But both books are independent,
different protagonists different eras Secret Identities in the seventies, Alter
Egos in the present day, and the protagonists their stories
(23:27):
are very different, but they both shared one theme, which
is both were presented with their dream, you know, their
dream opportunity. For any protagonist of Alter Ego, it was
a chance to revance the legendary links, and for Carmen
in Secret Identity, it was a chance to create the links.
But both of those dreams are are presented with really
a lot of streams attacks that they don't see right away.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Don't you love the idea of using your words to
put that that action inside our imaginations instead of looking
at you, you know, the typical, you know, graphic novel
that your your words give us so much which more
to hold on to.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
It's really an interesting mix because you know, there's comic
pages in the novel and you get to see that
medium roll out, But novels give you this opportunity to
be internal and cerebral and really kind of get a
peek into what's going on with these characters. And alter
ego is first person, so we're intimately in Annie's mind
throughout the story, whereas Carmon and Secret identity for a
(24:23):
little third person limited and you know, we see what
Harmon zoom, but we're not so deeply into her every thought.
But it's it's a fun way to mix the two mediums,
comics and pros.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think of this book, and my wife and I
have talked about this so much since receiving the book,
is the fact that it serves as a ticket to
ride for those that love comic books. Because my grandson
graduated from school because that's how we learned how to
read comic books. And I think that a book like
this is going to take those comic book fans and
you're going you're introducing a platform to them that maybe
they didn't know was even the available to them.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Yeah, you know, it's I mean, I think what is
really gratifying about these Sue books is that I get
people from both sides who are not familiar with comics,
you're not familiar with mystery novels, and they say these
are the books that really turn them on to these mediums.
And that's that's gratifying, because a they're entertained and entertained
enough to do something that maybe they're not comfortable with
in terms of the new new medium. But also people
(25:18):
want to believe that these characters exist. I had a
lot of people reach out to me after Secret Identity saying,
you know, I read this book and I read all
this stuff you wrote about it, and then I went
with the comic shop and I couldn't find the link comics.
So and it's not like we're trying to trick people,
Like I think it's very clearly fiction. But I love
that people want to believe that the links is real.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Wow. I love how you are tapped into what's really
going on in the world because my son in law
has Cuban heritage, and I love the way that you
brought that into the picture. That it's not a hidden
secret that anybody can read this book, and I just
really want people to understand how real you are with
this story and it's not the typical black and white story.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah, I appreciate it. I mean, I think one of
the key moments for me as a reader was finding
the stories that I identified with, whether they were Cuban
or Latino or characters that weren't routinely protagonists in a
lot of the media that was coming out at that time.
So it's really important to me to show readers diverse characters,
diverse storylines, and give them a sense of the wider world.
(26:20):
It's not just one way, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, when you revive a character, how how do you
go through the emotions or that reinventing type of personality
to make sure that you get it right on that
page you meet.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
The character that already exists, like a.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yes, exactly exactly, because we all have our interpretations.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah, I think The thing I try to do if
I'm writing a character for another company, a character that's
been around a long time, like I write to Tracy,
I'm written in the Spider Verse and things like that,
is to get to the core of the character, get
to the core part that is identifiable, that makes the
character unique and different, and ride that into a story
that interests you to write and create. And that's usually
(27:01):
a recipe for success.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So do you do you take this to a comic con?
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I do. I'm usually in near comic con. I do
a lot of the other comic cons around the country,
like San Diego, and I've had tables at cons and
really gotten to engage with a lot of readers about
these books, which has been a thrill.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Did you send one to Kevin Smith by any chance?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
I did not. I should? You should like it?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
You you think? I think he would probably sit there
and go, how can I make this a movie? I
need to do something with this? Yeah, because it's so
unique in its own right, I mean really, it is
such a When you said standalone, yes it.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Is, yeah, yeah, yeah, No your list to God's Ears
that would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Wow. So then where do you grow from here? Because
I mean, because you're you're tapping into that new audience,
especially those Gen zs as well as the Alpha generation
who's finally picking up books. The thing is is that,
I mean, you've got your audience building right now.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
M Yeah. I think after this, I'm writing a novel
featuring Garrett Devil, the Marvel Superhero CROs Crime novel, which
is coming out next year, and then I'm working on
in the early stages of my next crime novel, but
also doing a lot of comic book work for Marvel
and DC and places like Matt Dave and just keeping busy.
I think. I think sometimes industries want to say this
(28:14):
is what you are and to find you, and I
think the key to success is to stay flexible and
pivot when you can and keep people in there.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Toes Alex, you're that guy. You're that guy that we
all wish we could be, and you're taking the steps
to make it possible.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Wow. So where can people go to find out about
everything that you're doing? Because You've got something happened before
we got to this moment today, and that's what I
want people to do. I want them to embrace you.
Like a great rock band.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Oh thank you, Yeah, I appreciate it. I have a
little website, Alexiagura dot com that's pretty up to date.
I also send out a substack newsletter every couple weeks
with updates on what's coming out and where I'll be,
and you can find that at Alex Sigarette dot substack
dot com.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Ex So, please come back to the show anytime in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you, dude.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I certainly will. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Well, you'd be brilliant today, Okay, you too. Coming up next,
we're gonna go all out holiday with Michelle Weaver and
Nathan Owens. The name of the holiday movie tis the Season.
Let's check in with Michelle Weaver and Nathan Owens. Hello, Erra, hello,
hello he Good morning to you guys. How are you
doing today? How are you well? I'm very excited to
(29:23):
share a conversation with you because I've experienced the movie.
I don't want to spoil the movie because I want
people to feel the same way that I did in
watching A Season to Remember, Because there is romance, there
is courage, there's a sense of reality in the way
that so many people have lived what you did as
that reporter or as that journalist because we don't see
what's behind the scenes until we get behind the scenes.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
Yes, yes, very true.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
But I love everything that you're saying.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
What's great about the movie is that, yes, it's for
the holiday, and it's part of the sixth Annuel Own
for the Holidays, But the thing is is that it
doesn't really come across as you're force feeding me the holidays.
This is a great, great movie.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Oh, thank you. I like that. I like that it
doesn't come across like that. It's yeah, I love that.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
In the script it was like that, and I enjoyed
that as well, and I'm glad to hear that that's
how it came off as well in the final production.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I love the way how the director really set this
movie up in the very beginning, because I mean, you're
at the game and things begin to happen. Now you've
got to get the story, and it really does put
us as viewers in a place of where you are
in your character.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
Yes, I agree, and I love that comment. Thank you
for saying that.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And of course, Nathan Iggy, love does exist in the
real world. There are people just like Iggy, and I
swear to got to do all the Iggy's. Yes, there are.
How did you jump into this role? How did you
make it so real?
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I honestly what spoke to me about Iggy is his
free spirit of nature. He's a man who likes to
He's jumping around trying to find him himself and a
home for himself. I think that's his internal journey, I think,
and yeah, just diving into that and then exploring the
(31:11):
whole vulnerability aspect of it as well too, and allowing
himself to be vulnerable in love and also too pushing
himself and professionally with the help.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
Of his counterpart here.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I don't want to give everything away, but yeah, I
think that that's some of the things that really stuck
out to me that I enjoyed playing well see.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
And that's where readers and listeners and viewers need to
understand that relationship between that journalist and that camera person.
I would not have done what I did in television
if it wasn't for my photographer. He's the one would
say he would sit down and listen to me, and
he'd say, Okay, I've got an idea I'm going to
add to it, there is a relationship there. Does that
change your view of sports journalists?
Speaker 5 (31:54):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Yeah, to certain agree. I mean when I did do the.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
Research, and I had always know because I actually majored
in television production, so I experienced just a little bit
of it.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
And that's why I.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Liked that they showed this that there is like a
storytelling dynamic between both the camera person and the person
in front of the camera, Like there's a team element
that I love that we show. But yes, doing this
film it made me think about it even more because
it's brought to my attention about there's so much that
goes on behind the camera. There's so much that hours
(32:28):
people are putting in day in and day out to
get that one thirty second little snippet, you know, and
to be able to really understand and cherish that is
a beautiful thing I think.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
And yeah, no, I'm sorry, now please you.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
I actually had a little bit of a hosting background.
I hosted for a show years ago, and it.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Was kind of like I could see that, like I
got to experience that team aspect of it as well too,
So letting that shine in this film was nice to watch.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah, because once you get that story, next step out
in the truck and edit that thing and sit it
back to the station. Also, not to.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Give away a lot, but even you see like when
their relationship is like weird, she's like, I don't want
to work with anybody else. You find that dynamic with
a fellow, yeah, work person that you work with partner,
and you know for your job, it's like really hard
to switch that up because you have a flow together.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
There are so many different levels of this story, and
I think one that's going to blow people away, and
I think it's going to pull them in is the
relationship with you and your father. And I think it's
really going to pull people in in a way of saying,
oh my god, I'm not the only one.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Yeah, I love hearing you say that. Yes, I agree.
That really touched me even just reading in the script.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
You how do you deal with that when it's words
on a page, because that's you know, as a jock,
I can sit here and I can put words on
a page, but ultimately it's up to the pitch, volume
and tone to take over. How do you bring it forward?
Speaker 6 (33:57):
That's such a good question.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I feel like that's so.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
You can't do it by yourself, right, That's why I
love doing film and TV and everything, and even like
as people in TV, you can't do it by yourself.
There's so many elements that go into it, whether it's wardrobe,
your fellow actor, the director, the makeup artist, the set designer.
And so I think really, for me, it's not thinking
(34:23):
it's all on me. I'm going to come be as
authentic and do my work of like, Okay, what's the
real things that's going on in this person's heart, mind
and body and their history and bring it and then
we actually get to play with everybody. We're collaborating together
and bouncing ideas off of each other. There's so many
ideas that happen when you're on set that you didn't expect,
(34:45):
and that's the magic. That's what's so beautiful, because that's life.
You can only prepare so much. You come ready to
be knocked over sometimes and punch back.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
There's a scene in the movie where I smiled, and
it just could have been just me just being crazy me,
but the mustard seeds. I smiled because the Christianity came
out in me like you would not believe. When I
saw the mustard seeds.
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, same.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
I Actually I love that verse as well. And a
friend had given me a mustard seed when I just
graduated college and put it on a piece of tape
and say, remember how small this mustard seed is. And
I do love that symbol in the film as well.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Do you find anything do you find yourself doing movies together?
Because I mean, I mean, you guys have such chemistry
on that on that screen. I mean it's like it's
like when I seed the two of you together there,
it's like, oh my god, there's there's great balance here.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
That's wonderful. That's great. I mean it's all you know,
it's hard work with this girl.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
I mean he's secretly crazy.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
No, no, this is our first project together.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
But like I like I've said before, actually it was
just it's it's really easy when you're you're.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Friends with somebody.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
I mean, like we just hit it off from sense
of humor, the sense of humor aspect of it, and
then also too, we both are very big on this.
She actually spoke about it just a second ago about
the team aspect that comes with that comes with acting.
And I have a background and playing multiple team sports
and that's kind of what I look for whenever I do,
(36:20):
you know, any kind of acting project, because we all
it's all together.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
We're all having this together, whether it's a director prorection,
we're all doing this together.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And so I think that like when you have a
generous actor who's willing to.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
You know, help you out when you need help.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Here, you can lean on for the you know, ideas
or what you know, run through scenes together if you
don't feel comfortable, whatever it is.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
We both were there for each other and in.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
That aspect, and I think that, yeah, that adds to
the the chemistry that obviously apparently translates.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
But honestly, like I don't know, they just cast, we
didn't meet, we didn't audition together, and whoever casts.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I guess did a good job.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
It is new and we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Oh my god, because that first scene where you guys
meet each other, not to spoil it when you meet,
I mean I felt it. I'm going, oh yeah, it's there.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Have you ever booked into somebody in your life when
it comes to that, because I mean, love at first
sight is an actual thing. Sometimes we just ignore it.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Fair enough, Yeah, Yeah, I do think it is a
real thing, the connection, Like internally, you just feel connected.
Speaker 6 (37:25):
One drawn to somebody for sure, for sure, for sure.
Yeah I'll leave it there, but yeah, let's.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Have to I've always connected it to like we've lived
this life before and it just took this long for
us to get back together again. And that's I think
that's the storyline that you, guys shares that you know
each other, but you just can't pinpoint how you know
each other until you start that conversation.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Yeah, one d per true. Hey, ero, have you considered
doing some screenwriting of your own? I feel like you've got.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Got some skill. Man, I got seven books that'll you know.
I would love to have a movie of my own area.
But yeah, it's because I mean, I just want to
point out things to viewers as well as listeners that
there's more than just the lines. It's it's everything behind
the scenes. It's it's the connection between the eyes and
the facial expressions. There's so much going on in a movie,
(38:20):
Yes there is, So what's next after this one? Guys?
Because I mean it's a holiday picture, it's gonna But
the thing is, though, is that it's like Christmas music
it should be all year long. Oh yeah, everyone's while.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
It's good to have a holiday movie even in like
March of July, right like just to like.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Well yeah, I mean this is on the backdrop of
a holiday, but the story there can be viewed throughout
the rest of the year at anytime, anytime.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
Absolutely wow.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Well please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 6 (38:57):
Thank you, thank you, er it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Truly be alliant today.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
Okay, you too, I'm gonna be brilliant just for you.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Erm
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